POLARIS has long helped mariners find their way through our planet's seas and oceans by pointing the way north.

This means that the star we call Polaris has been the closest visible marker of the celestial North Pole for about less than 4,000 years, and wasn’t all that close for much of that time.

It’s stargazing turnover time! Nighttimes are shrinking, and you’re forced to wait longer into the evening to begin your ...

At the start of March, Mercury and Venus lay in the west after sunset. Now both have passed between us and the Sun into the ...

It’s stargazing turnover time! Nighttimes are shrinking in Butler, and you’re forced to wait longer into the evening to begin ...

Precession is why the Pole Star changes over time. Currently Earth's rotational axis is pointed toward Polaris in Ursa Minor, but in the past it has pointed at different stars, and will do so ...

Content continues below As our slanted homeworld travels along its orbit, with its north pole always pointed towards the star Polaris, that 23.4 degree tilt causes the northern hemisphere to be ...

As our slanted homeworld travels along its orbit, with its north pole always pointed towards the star Polaris, that 23.4 degree tilt causes the northern hemisphere to be pointed more towards the Sun ...

Polaris is special because it is almost directly above Earth’s North Pole, and so everyone north of the equator can see it year-round in exactly the same spot in their sky. It’s a key star for ...